The Warden's Revenge
by thedemonandtheangel
Summary: Sequel to "Wraith". Genevieve is back and a year after the events at Arkham Asylum she finds herself stuck in Arkham City, she's become ruthless over the past year and is out to survive. May include mild crossover with my friend's fic (I'll add a link later when it becomes relevant) and probably some kind of romance though not enough to drive the plot!
1. Chapter 1

**This is the sequel to my first fic "Wraith" which can be found on my profile, thanks for reading! - Katy x**

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I was sat outside Ivy's cell playing chess with her, we were discussing how my day had gone.

"...and then he had the nerve to suggest that this place should be given to the state!"

"So how are you going to deal with it?" I smiled wryly, I had just the plan.

"I'm going to ask his nephew out for a drink." Ivy laughed then.

"Oh Genevieve Arkham, how terribly cruel of you!"

"He deserves it, both of them. Quincy is a dick and his nephew a heartless bastard, he'll be getting a taste of his own medicine."

"You know if you keep going after heartless bastards the press will pick up on it."

"They already have. They published an article just last week saying that I had a weak spot for bad boys!"

"If only they knew." if only indeed, I was the bad one in my relationships. Not just the heartbreaker, but the secret murderer, the psychopath walking free.

"So any new gossip on the grapevine?"

"Now you mention it I have been meaning to talk to you about that." she sounded serious "Something big is happening, and soon. There is something not quite right about Arkham City, we all know it but what we don't know is what."

"If you find anything out tell, me and i'll pass it on to Bruce." he dealt with the press not me, I had difficulty restraining myself from lashing out at them and a murder on my part would do our campaign no good.

"You know I will" and I did. Ivy was my most trusted friend, even more so than Harley though I trusted both of them with my life. "My dear Genevieve I believe that is checkmate. Chess really isn't your forte is it? Though you seem worse than normal today, are you okay?" I wasn't. That night's nightmare had been the worst yet, it hadn't ended when I woke up and in the end I was only able to secure two hours of sleep. I didn't want to concern Ivy though, or risk her trying to dig deeper behind their cause.

"I'm fine, just a late night is all!" I wasn't sure if she believed me or not but she didn't bring it up again until just as I was leaving.

"Genevieve?"

"Yes Ivy."

"You know you can tell me anything right?" That almost broke me, there and then.

"I know Ivy, and you me." she smiled at me and it felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart, I didn't deserve her.

I had to go home and get ready, there was a press conference about Arkham tonight and Bruce had told me I had to be there, even if I didn't talk, just to show my solidarity behind the campaign. However on my way I bumped into none other than Daniel Sharp, Quincy's nephew who I had been talking to Ivy about.

"Oh Daniel what a surprise seeing you here!" I had my flirt on, which basically consisted of me raising the pitch of my voice slightly, giggling lots, leaning in close and making a lot of physical contact.

"Well actually Gen I was looking for you."

"Really why?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to grab a drink with me before the conference tonight?" perfect.

"That sounds lovely Daniel! How about we meet at the place down the alley across from city hall? I hear they do wonderful cocktails."

"I'll meet you there at 6."

"See you later!"

When I got there at five past six I was wearing a short green dress and uncomfortably high black heels, I wasn't playing around Daniel was nowhere to be seen. I waited another five minutes before my phone started to ring it was Daniel.

"Hello, where are you?"

"I'm just around the corner, come and meet me i've got a surprise for you" he was actually that pathetic.

"Okay i'm on my way!" as I rounded the corner I walked straight into him. "There you are, I was worried you'd forgotten!" something was wrong though, he seemed off.

"Right. Of course you did."

"What are you saying Daniel?" I was starting to worry now.

"I'm saying that I know what you're playing at, you want revenge for what my Uncle said in court earlier." not so pathetic after all then.

"Daniel! What would make..."he cut me off by shoving me against the wall, a hand over my mouth.

"I was also saying that this isn't your plan right now, this is ours. But first i'm going to get my payment from you for thinking you could use me you little whore." No, no, no. I wouldn't let him do that. Anything but that. I lashed out at him and kicked him in the stomach but what I hadn't anticipated was him being trained as well. He countered me by grabbing me by the hair and slamming my head against the wall, my arms locked behind me and the full weight of his body preventing me from kicking. "Nice try, but you're little weak." he whispered in my ear sending a trickle of fear down my spine. "Now where were we? Oh yes, I remember." his hand started to stroke up my thigh. "Don't struggle, you're gonna need your strength later." he moved his other hand up to my chest and grabbed me roughly. "See? Not so bad." he was just starting to pull the hem of my dress up when a familiar voice interrupted.

"Now, now Daniel. It isn't the time. Miss Arkham has an appointment and unfortunately it will render her unable to attend the press conference." Quincy. He walked over to me and pulled a syringe out and injected me in the neck. As I slowly slipped into darkness I heard his voice in my ear. "Revenge is sweet Miss Arkham."

I woke up to the sound of an engine, it didn't exactly take long to work out I was in a helicopter and that it was in the process of landing.

"I can't get a clear spot." I heard the pilot say, there was some murmuring from his head piece and then he nodded his head "affirmative." We continued to descend until we were about three meters above a four storey building, the pilot then turned to the man guarding me and gave him the thumbs up. The guard the roughly grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me towards the open side of the helicopter.

"Move."

"What do you think you're doing? Get off of me now, or..." I didn't get finish my threat as he pushed me out of the side. I landed hard on the roof of the building leaving a series of scrapes down my right side, and looked up to see the helicopter fly away. Brushing myself off I got up to walk to the side of the roof to take a look at my surroundings, my heart dropped as I realised where I was. Arkham City.

So this was Quincy's revenge, drop me into the super prison I was campaigning against to be killed off by someone else. It was clean but cowardly, completely Quincy's style. Well then, the only thing I could hope to do was stay alive. Unfortunately I was still dressed in the same attire I had left my apartment in, which was only practical for getting laid. Across the road from me I saw a fancy dress shop, it would have to do. I looked around the roof for some sort of hatch into the building below but couldn't find any, my only option was to climb down the drain pipe and try to reach the fire escape six meters below. It wasn't elegant but I managed it and quickly took the ladder till I reached street level, I kept an eye out for any sign of movement and when I was sure the coast was clear I crossed the street and used one of my heels to smash the window of the shop to break in. It wasn't particularly helpful. I doubted a cow costume was much more practical than what I was already wearing, however I did manage to find a pair of boots that according to the label were once part of a Luke Skywalker costume. I tried to find some kind of weapon but the only thing I could see was a plastic samurai sword, which wouldn't exactly help me much. I was about to give up when I noticed a door leading through to a small kitchenette which I assumed the store workers used for their lunch breaks. After a quick rifle through the draws I managed to locate a knife, it felt familiar in my hands and I started to relax a lot more.

I was just about to exit the shop when I heard voices heading my way, so I ducked behind a rail and waited for them to pass.

"Penguin says the clown's on the way out."

"You think it's true then?"

"Don't see why the boss would lie." their voices started fading and I peaked round the corner to watch their retreating backs. I knew the Joker was ill but dying? This was bad. And as for the other bit of intell I was now privy to. Cobblepot was here and that meant I was in worse danger than ever. Cobblepots and Arkhams had hated each other for centuries and as the couple of encounters me, Cobblepot and a couple of his thugs had, had over the past year had proven, relations between our families hadn't improved.

If I was going to stay alive I needed a plan of action. Quincy had kept the blueprints hidden from me so I was unaware of the layout, some scouting was needed. jutting from the rooftops in front of me I could see a large spire, decorated in luminous green question marks. A smile graced my lips, Eddie. I had barely seen him over the past year as his tendency to sneak out out had caused him to be imprisoned under especially high security, making it impossible to get in for a visit. I started to make my way towards the church which was quite a challenge considering I had next to no knowledge of the area. As I was passing what looked like the courthouse I a mob of blackgate thugs spotted me.

"Hey there, pretty lady. Want me to take care of you?" what a jerk.

"I'll do just fine by myself thank you very much."

"Oh we got a fiery one on our hands boys!" followed by an idiotic chorus of "ohhhs" and whistling. Until one of them shouted out "Wait, I know her. She was at the asylum, she works for Joker!"

"Then get 'er, the boss will wanna see her. Keep her tied up with the cat." The first one charged me and I neatly stepped to the side plunging my knife into his ribs as he passed. I then blocked a punch from another and delivered a roundhouse kick to the head, knocking him to the floor where I jammed the knife into his stomach. His friends paused as I knelt down and pulled the knife out of his stomach hearing as his rasping breaths grew shallower and shallower. I then looked up at them from my position on one knee and raised the knife to point at them.

"If I were you i'd turn around and walk away." They clearly decided it was a good idea to do as I said. I looked down at the man on the floor next to me as he took his final gasping breaths, when he went silent I leant over and carved my signature three kisses into his forehead before repeating the same with the other guy. If I was going to get by here people were gonna have to know I wasn't to be messed with and that meant leaving my mark.


	2. Chapter 2

I stood up and continued to head towards the church, this place was grim. In the distance I could hear screaming and not too far away snippets of conversation which I listened to in the hope of gathering more information. From what I could work out there was some kind of three way struggle for dominance going on between Joker, Two Face and Penguin; I personally was backing Joker out of those three as he wouldn't kill me.

I reached the church and pushed open the heavy wooden doors, inside I could hear quite a commotion, what was going on? My question was soon answered, I walked in and saw a group of civilians surrounded by thugs with guns, they were being supervised by none other than Harley Quinn. She turned and saw me, a large grin spread across her face and she ran at me to pull me into a massive hug.

"Curly! I didn't think i'd be seein' you here!"

"Quincy had me dropped in."

"The don't ya worry Curly i'll keep ya safe!"

"So what's going on in here?"

"We were being dropped in here in small groups at a time over the past few days, an' now everyone wants ta be in charge. No one'll beat my Puddin' though. When did ya get dropped in?"

"About half an hour ago, who else is here then"

"Well you must be one of the last ones, pretty much all the gang is here! Eddie is gonna be using this place later but he said I could keep this lot here for now, and I think I heard some people saying they saw Red earlier."

"Ivy's here?"

"Yeah she was dropped in this afternoon." They must have taken her almost as soon as i'd left her cell.

"I heard some of two face's men saying they had Catwoman in the courthouse..."

"He has Kitty? That pig better not hurt her or i'll break all his limbs! Actually I could do with your help I need to set up a remote detonated explosive in the tower for when Batsy gets here.

"Batman's here?"

"Not yet but Mr-J seems to think he will be." I planned on staying out of the Bat's way as much as possible. "And another thing, what's with the get up Curly?"

"I was on a date when they took me."

"Ohhh what a shame, I hope you're not missing anything fun."

"Trust me Harley, this place is almost better."

"That bad huh?"

"The worst."

I went up to the bell tower and started work, I had a lot of spare time these days and had spent a large portion of it trying to improve any skills I thought would help me, including how to set up a bomb. Making it remote detonated was simple for me as i'd always been good with computers and I was finished pretty quickly I sat down and looked out of the tower, it was actually kind of a beautiful view in a weird kind of way. I heard Harley come up behind me.

"Ya know Mr-J told me we could make this whole place our paradise."

"Paradise?" It seemed a little bit too idealistic for me to believe.

"Yeah, granted it'll take a lot of work but we can do it." she was sad, I could tell because her accent was fading slightly.

"Harley, I overheard something about Joker." I turned to face her and saw her eyes were brimming with tears, it was true then. "Oh Harley." she collapsed into my arms and started to cry into my shoulder.

"What am I gonna do? I can't live without him Curly, I love him!" I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.

"Shhh we'll find a way, we'll keep him alive, just you see." I had to try, for Harley's sake.

"But Freeze has disappeared, and he's making the cure for us! I can't lose him."

"If that happens, and it won't. You and I, we'll get revenge understand? We'll take care of each other and no one will be safe, no one." she looked up at me and looked like she was about to say something before she was interrupted by a loudspeaker bursting to life with the voice of Hugo Strange.

"Hello citizens of Arkham City, I am making a special announcement of the arrival of two new inmates. The first is already here and she is your namesake Miss Genevieve Arkham." There went my plan of staying out of the limelight. "The second is just about to enter, I give you Gotham's finest: Bruce Wayne!" Bruce was here? I had to help him, there was no way that guy could handle himself around here. It seemed like Harley had read my mind.

"Go help the rich kid, ya know you want to."

"But what about you?"

"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. Whenever you get a spare moment come over and see us, we're in the steel mill and I know Mr-J would love ta see you!" she patted me on the shoulder and led the way down from the bell tower. "I'll see ya soon. Kay Curly?"

"For sure."

It was surprisingly easy to find my way to the entrance, all I had to do was follow the large groups of thugs heading in that direction. When I got there the place was packed and Bruce was being attacked by several of the inmates, I ran to help him but I was too slow and saw him fall to the ground unconscious.

"Bruce!" I shouted stupidly, the group turned to look at me and I saw who was in charge of them. Cobblepot saw me and grinned a smarmy grin.

"Ahh Miss Arkham, I heard you were in 'ere but I must say I wasn't expectin' you to come and hand yourself over to me!" he had at least forty thugs with him , way more than I could take. I turned to run but I didn't get very far before a guy who looked to be about 6'4 grabbed me by the wrist and twisted me around to face the group. Before I could get away several more of them had hold of me and were binding my wrists and ankles. Cobblepot sauntered over to me and looked me right in the eye.

"Nighty night Miss Arkham, you better pray you don't wake up too soon." A bag was then shoved over my head and I felt a club come down over me, knocking me out swiftly.

When I woke up the bag was still over my throbbing head. I stank of sweat and left me with very little idea as to my location, all I could tell was that it was cold, very cold and I was wearing completely wrong clothing for these temperatures. I felt some rough hands and jerk me into an upright position and pull the bag off of my head. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light but when I did I was in for a shock, everywhere was covered in ice.

"Like what i've done with the place?"

"Not really to my taste."

"Shame that. Since you're gonna be getting very well acquainted with ice. You see I want you to suffer, slowly. Ice is great for that, it hurts quickly but takes awhile to do any real damage." The hand lifted me up and shoved me towards the center of the room where a large tub was positioned. As we neared I saw it was full of Ice and water.

"Is this your great plan Cobblepot? Kinda pathetic, you really think a little bit of ice will hurt me, that's adorable!" except I was freezing already.

"Let's see if you're still able to say that in an hours time." as soon as my skin made contact with the water I realised what he meant,it stung like hell. when my whole body apart from my head was submerged I felt like I was on fire. I jerked and tried to get out but hands held me down, then they brought a sheet of metal that covered the majority of the tub and strapped it down, I banged my hands against it.

"Let me out!"

"Not so adorable now is it? I hear you go by Wraith professionally, you should be pleased, this'll make you look more like a spook, eh Ghosty?"

"Wait until I get out of here. I'll skin you from head to toe." he turned towards some of his goons and shrugged at them.

"Ghosty 'ere seems to be under the impression she'll be getting out of there any time soon. I don't know if any of you gave her that idea 'cause I certainly didn't!" he looked back at me and grinned "Now if you'll excuse me I 'ave bloke to see about a gun." he gave me a wave and swaggered out of the room. The pain was excruciating and I quickly had to stop hitting the metal sheet as it made it worse, if felt my strength failing and my mind was clouded by the unbearable pain. I fell into a haze and soon was only able to make out the vague shapes and colours moving around me, well that and the burning of the ice. I was well on my way to becoming comatose when I noticed a disturbance around me, the shapes were running around and shouting I strained to tune into what they were saying.

"...near the suit..."

"...going crazy..."

"...you stay here we'll deal with it." that last one was followed by all the shapes but one leaving my line of sight. Then a miracle happened, the one remaining shape came over to me and lifted the metal from on top of me, I tried to reach out for him but I couldn't move, he reached in and lifted me slowly out of the tub. I looked into his face, confused.

"I'm an undercover cop, I needed to get you out of there or you would have died. I dunno who caused the chaos outside but whoever they are you owe them your life, and it wasn't one of us I can tell you that." I was numb all over and could barely move, but I tried anyway. I stumbled forward and the cop put a hand out to steady me, my vision was clearing, I could do this. I turned to him.

"Show me a way out." he nodded and led me to a small side door, hidden behind a bookcase.

"This is how we've been getting in and out, it beats crossing that lake out there every time anyway." we heard voices heading in out direction. "Quickly! Follow it and it'll lead you out onto the street."

"Thank you." but he was already turning from me to close the door. I turned and ran. From behind me I could hear voices shouting "Traitor!" and "He's a pig!" seems the guy had been discovered. I felt guilty but there was nothing I could do to help him now. I reached the end of a passage and burst out onto the street. I didn't stop running until I had left the museum far behind me. I broke into one of the apartments and curled up on the floor hugging myself, I was numb all over and soaking wet. I was ridiculously weakened by my experience and all I could do was lie there on the floor shivering. At least I was alive; for now.


	3. Chapter 3

I closed my eyes for what seemed like a second and when I opened them again I had a blanket over me, as curious as I was about exactly how the blanket had ended up here I was just glad for it's warmth.I looked around for a clue as to who this mystery person was and my eyes fell upon a small note.

_You looked cold Miss Arkham,_

_take care._

It wasn't signed and seemed to be written in the same handwriting as the note I had received in the hospital with my rose. So whoever had sent the note was in Arkham City. It was infuriating not knowing, especially since whoever this was seemed to be keeping a pretty close eye on me. I gathered the blanket around me and tucked the note into the pocket watch I always kept with me these days, it didn't work but it had been my father's, and besides it was good for storing things. I should get back to Harley, she had said that her and Joker were in the steel mill so that was where I needed to go.

On my way over I heard a ringing sound coming from down an alley to my right, I took out my knife and headed towards the noise. Very much to my surprise I discovered that it was coming from a ringing pay phone.

"How come these things are still working?" I asked myself as I stepped up to the receiver. "Who's there?" I asked.

"Your salvation." came a soft voice from the other end.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I really wasn't in the mood for this "You know what screw you. I've got places to be." I was just about to hang up when he said in a suddenly much more threatening voice.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Miss Arkham." I froze.

"How did you know it was me?"

"I'm watching you right now." I looked around frantically trying to work out where he could be.

"Who are you?"

"I told you, i'm your salvation."

"I meant your name."

"My name is Victor Zsasz and Miss Arkham you are the one." my blood ran cold, I knew of Zsasz and I knew that now he'd chosen me he wouldn't give up until he had me.

"Don't you dare. I'm not just some unsuspecting victim you freak. I know people much scarier than you."

"I know who you know, and I also know that you're much more scared of me than any of them. So Miss Arkham, you can run as fast as you want but you'll be mine in the end. You hear that? Run." I dropped the phone and sprinted, my heart felt like it would burst through my chest, there were too many people in here out to get me and I needed my friends. My paranoia was intense, this year it had been reaching peak levels anyway and now I could feel it choking me. Everywhere I went I could hear footsteps following me and when I looked behind no one was there, mocking laughter echoed around my head piercing every corner of my mind. I heard a whispering from behind me and looked around, in my distraction I tripped and fell backwards. I scurried backwards into a corner,I was hysterical, I got out my knife.

"Stay back Zsasz. I'll kill you if I see you, don't think I won't." I saw a black shape out of the corner of my eye and jumped at it, I had the figure against a wall with a knife to their throat before I even saw who it was.

"Catwoman." I took the knife away from her neck and stepped back to give her more space.

"The one and only. Though I presume I wasn't who you were expecting?"

"I thought you were Zsasz."

"Ahhh so you've been unfortunate enough to be picked as "His one"" the contempt for his was clear in her voice.

"So it seems."

"You can call me Selina since you seem like you're decent company. Thanks for not using that knife on me by the way. She stuck her hand out for a handshake.

"Genevieve Arkham, and I suspect you could have dealt with me had I posed any real threat." she smiled as I took her hand.

"Lucky you didn't need to find out Genevieve, I've heard about you, Ivy and Harley are quite taken with you, Eddie too. Though him and Harley are easy to win over, Ivy though takes someone a bit more special, if she trusts you so do I; until you give me reason not to."

"I'll try not to give you reason then."

"Where were you headed before Zsasz sent you running scared then?"

"The steel mill to meet Harley and Joker"

"Tell you what, If you help me take out the group of two face's men around the corner i'll see if I can help you with your little Zsasz problem. Sound like a deal?"

"Sounds lovely." she gave me a grin and used her whip to disappear somewhere above us, I turned to walk around the corner. There were about 10 blackgate prisoners, two of them with knives. I walked out into the middle of the road and cleared my throat loudly.

"Excuse me, I don't suppose any of you could help me out?" I had my knife hidden behind my back and had put on my innocent voice.

"Sure thing honey, i'll help you out alright." One said walking towards me

"Oh thank you so much, I can't tell you how grateful I am!" I stalled until he was looming right in front of me and quickly brought my knee up to his crotch doubling him over in pain I then slit his throat open, getting sprayed in blood in the process, and kicked him backwards onto the floor.

"He was thinking of doing something other than helping me!" I told the stunned looking thugs in a mocking explanation.

"You shouldn't have come alone bitch, you're way too outnumbered." they started to advance and I braced myself for a fight.

"Except she didn't come alone." Selina swung down from a nearby lamp post and launched into one of the guys at the back. "She has me." the group split in two and ran at us. I feinted to one side before going the other way and breaking a guy's jaw, while his friend tried to sneak up up on me. Just as he was about to lash out I slammed my elbow backwards into his nose which made a crunch and spurted blood, a third guy charged me but I flipped over him and swung my knife around into his back, severing his spinal chord. The first guy was back up and running at me then I blocked his punch and kicked him in the stomach sending him staggering backwards I was too slow turning around though and the man whose nose I had broken had grabbed a metal pipe and brought it down on my head leaving me dazed. The street shook as he advanced on me. He grabbed my hair and pulled me up to face him, but before he could do anything I smashed my knife into the side of his head as hard as I could, he jerked violently and went still, I pulled the knife out and as it came out my face got sprayed with blood. The first guy saw what I had done to his friend and let out a yell before running at me, but it wasn't well thought out and I lifted my foot up to kick him as he got close, knocking him to the floor I went over to him and stamped on his hand which was reaching out for the pipe. As I brought my foot down I felt several of his fingers break and he let out a scream of pain.

"You'll pay for this whore." I turned around to see one of the men with knives walking towards me. I got my own knife at the ready and ducked one of his swings, lashing out to cut his side as I came under his arm and out behind him. He turned too slow and I kicked him forwards into the wall. I walked towards him to finish him off, but he threw one of his knives at me, it was badly aimed but left a deep gash along the top of my left arm. I hissed in pain and threw my own knife into the back of his head. I turned to finish the guy on the floor but he had disappeared, I saw him running off into the distance and was about to follow when I felt Selina put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"Let him run, he won't be bothering anyone any time soon." I nodded and walked over to where my knife was still imbedded in the man's skull and pulled it out. I turned him over and started to work carving kisses into the foreheads of the men i'd killed. Selina watched me with mild interest.

"I like your style, Genevieve."

"Thank you, you're not so bad yourself." She laughed, as I finished the last one I turned to face her. "This was fun, we should do it again sometime."

"Yes, I think we make a pretty good team Wraith." I smiled at her use of my professional name. "I'll follow through on my promise and try and deal with Zsasz, in the meantime please try not to die, it would be rather a shame, especially since we've been getting along so well."

"I'll do my best." I laughed, at least Selina wasn't out to kill me.

After we parted ways I continued on towards the steel mill, several of Joker's men saw me as I got closer but didn't stop me. I walked up to the gate leading into the yard in front of the main entrance and the two men guarding it looked at me then at each other.

"Should we kill her?"

"Nah that's the Wraith, we're not allowed to kill her. Bosses orders." That was comforting if a little surprising, I was glad I wouldn't have to watch out for any of Joker's people. They moved out of the way to let me pass and I walked across the courtyard and up to to the main entrance where one of the men on the door opened it for me. I paused to look at him.

"Where's Joker?" He gave me directions and I entered the building. I followed what the man had said and soon reached the room he had told me Joker was in. I saw him sitting or rather slumped in a chair, he looked up when he saw me enter.

"Ahh Genevieve dear, how kind of you to join us." I was shocked by his appearance, his skin seemed raw and like it was peeling and his eyes seemed so tired.

"You look awful."

"Dying does that to you. Besides you're hardly a picture yourself, have you looked in the mirror recently?" He gestured to a full length mirror in the corner of the room and I looked at my reflection. He was right, I was still deathly pale from my encounter with Penguin and my makeup had smudged down my face making me look like a walking corpse, something that was only enhanced by my still wet attire and the fact I was covered in blood which stood out bright red against my pale skin. I was covered in bruises and small scrapes while the knife wound on my left arm was still bleeding quite heavily.

"Had a bit of trouble on the way over did we?"

"You could say that." he let out a wheezing laugh which dissolved into a coughing fit.

"There's a first aid kit over in the corner, help yourself to bandages, go crazy! Though rumour has it you already have." more painful sounding laughter. I went over to the first aid kit and started to clean the knife wound. "I don't know if i'm going to make it you know? Sure i've got Batsy on the case and i'm sure as hell going out with a bang, one that Gotham won't forget anytime soon, but this could actually be it."

"Don't be so melodramatic, you won't die."

"See that's what I like about you Arkham, you're as blunt as a rolling pin. Anyway why do you even care, you may not hate me but you're certainly not my number one fan. It's not for protection, you can take care of yourself these days and besides you have plenty of other friends. So what is it?"

"I need you to live for Harley's sake."

"Ahhh my Harley, she's been taking tests you know?"

"Tests?"

"Pregnancy tests, I would have put my foot down but if i'm really on the way out I don't see the harm in leaving a little something behind." I was shocked.

"Wait. So Harley's pregnant?"

"Well she seems to think so. You can go see for yourself over in the office." I hadn't seen Harley here so far and had assumed she was out.

"I didn't think she was here..."

"Oh she isn't" he interrupted."She's out running errands. I meant the tests are in there." I walked through into the office and there it was clear as day, a box labeled fruitful endeavors pregnancy tests and lying next to it was a positive test. Harley Quinn was pregnant.


	4. Chapter 4

"Extraordinary isn't it?" it was, I needed to talk to Harley about this, see how she was feeling.

"She really is pregnant." I said turning to face the Joker who was now standing in the doorway he grimaced slightly.

"Yes, not my idea I must admit, but it seemed to make Harley so happy I didn't have the heart to ruin it for her." I found it hard to believe that he "Didn't have the heart" but who knows what those two were like when they were alone. In fact, as I cast a quick glance at the test I realised I didn't want to know.

"Where's Harley now then?"

"I believe she's stopping in on Ivy on her way back here, probably to break the happy news to her. If you want to intercept her i'd head there. Just follow the plants and you'll be there in no time!" He wheezed more laughter and left the room. I looked at the test on the table one more time before following him out. As I was leaving I heard him call out from behind me.

"If I do die, you better keep an eye on them dollface. Or I swear i'll haunt you!" he laughed but I could tell he was being serious, maybe the most serious i'd ever heard him and that scared me. I turned to look at him.

"You know I would do that with or without threats Joker."

"Yes but it's much more fun with threats!" he was back to his normal insincere self, I sighed and left him standing there alone.

It didn't take too long to find Ivy's vine encased fortress, I beat a couple of Blackgate thugs for information and in return let them live. I didn't worry about her guards attacking me as I was pretty sure she'd be fine with me turning up. I was correct and one of her guards even offered to escort me in.

"Nice to meet a polite man. Seems you're a rare breed around this place!" I joked

"Mistress instructed us to treat her friends with respect, it would anger her if we were to mistreat you." She'd worked her special abilities on them, it made sense now and I couldn't help but be a little impressed. We walked in to find her sitting amongst her plants.

"I see you got yourself set up pretty quickly here then Ivy." she looked up at me and smiled.

"Genevieve! I had no idea you were here, I hope you killed whoever gave you those injuries."

"Most of them. Cobblepot has it coming though don't you worry."

"I'll have to make sure I teach that repulsive meatsack a lesson in manners next time I see him."

"Well if you do make sure you record it for me." she laughed and walked over to me.

"I am truly glad you are safe Genevieve" she said pulling me in for a quick embrace.

"You too Ivy."

"So what's happened to you so far in your stay here?" I filled her in on everything that had happen her anger at Penguin and Zsasz was palpable and at the mention of Catwoman she tensed.

"I thought you two were friends?"

"Sometimes we are sometimes we aren't, right now, we aren't." I shrugged I couldn't bothered to try and understand "a second note you say?" Ivy was the only person I had told about the notes. "May I see them? I might know the handwriting." I got out my pocket watch and opened it revealing its contents, two notes, as small memory card and a photo of me and my parents standing in the botanical gardens at Arkham smiling as if we didn't have a care in the world; that was so long ago now. I handed Ivy the notes and she studied them intently.

"Of two things I am certain. firstly whoever this is they mean you no harm, if they did you would know that by now judging by their ability to access you. Secondly I have seen this hand before, I am sure of it."

"So you can tell me who it is?"

"Unfortunately not, the identity still alludes me. However as soon as I remember you shall be the first person I call upon." We were then interrupted by the very loud entrance of Harley.

"Red, and Curly too! I'm so glad you're both here, i've got some amazing news!" she was gushing with excitement, at least she wasn't upset about it then. "Though Puddin' tells me you dropped in earlier and found out for yourself Curly, but anyways..."

"Just tell me Harley" Ivy said in a bemused voice.

"Me an' Mr-J are havin' a baby!" I could tell Ivy was shocked.

"A baby?"

"Yep i'm preggers Red! Ain't it wonderful?"

"I am very happy for you Harley." Ivy said finally, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Despite her shock Ivy did sound genuinely happy for Harley.

"It's fantastic Harls. The best thing i've heard all year!" I told her and she let out a squeak of happiness before running up to us for a hug.

"I know you're only meant to have one but I want you both to be godmother, so screw the rules!" I laughed, it was nice to get some genuinely heartwarming news in the middle of all this mess.

"I'm sure I speak for both Genevieve and myself in saying we are extremely gratefully accepting your request Harley." Ivy said

"It would be an honour." I added

"Thank you both so..." she trailed off as the notes me and Ivy had been examining caught her eye. "What's this?"

"Some anonymous notes i've been given, the first one in the hospital after the breakout last year and second one earlier this evening. We were trying to work out who they're from."

"Hmmm well i'll tell ya this, I know that handwriting from somewhere."

"Can you tell us anything about it?"

"Besides the fact they seem to have a bit of a crush on ya, just that I know it's a guy. I can't seem to remember who though."

"Well since you both recognise the writing it must be someone from the asylum."

"Maybe Eddie?" Harley suggested

"No, Nygma doesn't write that neatly if he bothers to write at all. Besides if it were him it would be a riddle, this is too plain."

"It certainly is cryptic though." I wanted to know who it was but we were all stumped. "Maybe I could ask Eddie if he can work it out for us?"

"That certainly could work, it is his area of expertise after all." Ivy nodded

"Well in that case I better be gettin' back to Mr-J then!" harley said "I'm happy you two are pleased about the baby, it means a lot ya know?" she then hugged us again and skipped from the room humming. Ivy looked back down at my small stash of stuff.

"Are those your parents?" I looked down at the photo and nodded. "They seem like lovely people. I have heard nothing but good stories about them, you look like your mother you know?"

"I do?"

"Yes, I think they would be pleased to see that you are fighting for their legacy."

"Maybe not at some of the other things I do."I smiled sadly

"True, but would you really want them to be proud of that part of yourself?"

"No, It may be who I am but it's not who they were."

"They hadn't experienced what you have."

"That's true. You know i've been thinking about it and I can't help but think that we all have it in us to turn out twisted; it just takes a push over the edge."

"I think you may be right."

I left soon after that, and started to head towards the church where Ivy told me I should be able to find the riddler. As I was heading in that direction I heard a payphone ringing, a shiver went down my spine as the sound echoed around the dark streets.

"Not this time Zsasz." I quickly hurried away from the phone and continued towards the church, then things got scary. Every single phone I passed rang until I was out of distance, he must have been watching me and that scared me more than anything. I started to run, I had to reach the church before Zsasz made his move. I ran past yet another ringing phone and rounded a corner almost running straight into three blackgate prisoners, I quickly realised they were Penguins men and got ready for a fight.

"It's the Wraith the boss was yellin' about earlier!"

"Get her!" They all charged me simultaneously and I dodged two punches but caught a kick in the side which knocked me over. As they advanced on me I bounced off of my hands and kicked one in the face before ducking another one's punch. I stabbed him in the shoulder and he let out a cry of pain, one of the other two punched me in the jaw and I retaliated by letting out a series of swift jabs to his stomach leaving him doubled over in pain while those two were recovering I launched a powerful kick at the third man which connected with the side of his face knocking him unconscious. I then grabbed the second man who had recovered and was now charging at me and lifted him by the throat. I slammed him against the wall and drove my knife into his stomach.

"Get me will you?" I stabbed him again. "I think not." I twisted the knife whilst pulling it out, he screamed in agony. "Let's see you take me to Cobblepot now." I slashed the knife across his throat, putting him out of his misery. As I took my knife out however it was knocked out of my hand by the man I had stabbed in the shoulder, he picked me up as if I weighed nothing and physically threw me across the street. As he started to walk towards me I searched for a weapon, my hand made contact with a fire extinguisher. I picked it up and swung it around hard until it made contact with his head, it made a dull thudding sound and knocked him backwards, dazed. I got up and hit him again, he continued to advance, I lifted it over my head and brought it down with both arms, as it hit his head I heard a cracking sound and he fell to the floor twitching before eventually going still. I decided not to carve the unconscious one and instead left him behind, he could tell Cobblepot not to mess with me again.

I stood up and and admired my handiwork, I was about to turn and continue on towards the church when I felt hot breath on my neck.

"Don't move a muscle Miss Arkham." it was Zsasz, he had come for me. I went to lift my knife but he pressed his own one harder into my neck "Ah ah ah, you wouldn't want to make my knife here slip would you? You know Miss Arkham you were very rude ignoring my calls, and I thought we had a special connection too. No matter you're still my one. I hear you strive for freedom, but you see you've been looking in all the wrong places. I can free you Miss Arkham, I will free you."


	5. Chapter 5

He dragged me over to a stained, wet and dirty armchair out on the street and tied me down, leg to leg and arm to arm.

"Normally I would just liberate you right now but you're different Miss Arkham, you're special."

"Special? Can't you hear yourself Zsasz? You're a freak, a psychopath. You aren't going to save me you're going to kill me." I was freaking out and getting desperate. "Just let me go!"

"No Miss Arkham you just don't understand the favour i'm doing you, liberating you from your miserable, meaningless existence. You know what life is Miss Arkham. You've seen your own fall apart, you've taken other's. That's why you're special, you aren't ready yet. First I must mark you, to show the lives you've liberated yourself."

"I didn't liberate them Zsasz, I killed them. Just like you aren't going to liberate me; I won't be free i'll just die!" he jumped forwards and put a finger over my lips.

"Shhh Miss Arkham, hush now. How many have you saved then? Let's see, there's the Doctor from back at the asylum in that explosion of your's." he dragged the knife across my arm creating a deep but short cut. "the two men here." he gestured to where their lifeless corpses lay before making two more identical marks next to the first one. "four men with the Cat" he completed the first tally and added another two. "The man who saved you from Cobblepot..."

"I didn't kill him!" I protested, his blood couldn't be on my hands. Could it?

"you say that and yet if it weren't for you he would be alive." he made the mark. "Within your first 20 minutes here you freed 2 of two-face's men." with that he completed the second tally. "What about your year after the asylum hmm? I've been doing my research, I hear that cop who was on trial for serial sex offences and rape was found dead with your mark on his forehead."

"He deserved it! Do you know how many women he hurt? How many of the people he was supposed to be protecting he brutalised? He didn't deserve to live and the courts were going to give him a minimal sentence!"

"So it's true." He cut the deep mark into my arm which was by this point slick with the crimson rivers flowing down my arm. "I presume it would be accurate that the trio of bodies down at the dock were also your handiwork judging by the similar markings?"

"They stole girls away from their families and trafficked them for the sex industry. I was doing the world a public service." the marks were added. "And of course there were the events of the the night of the breakout itself. He continued to list the lives I had "liberated" and added another eight marks. "I also happen to know that you are responsible for the end that befell the Master of Fear, Doctor Jonathan Crane down in the very depths of Arkham." He raised the knife again "Let this last mark signal your own end Miss Arkham, prepare to be saved."

"Except that she has not yet earned that mark." A voice called out from the darkness behind him. A voice I knew well and yet had not heard in almost a year. "Behold Zsasz, I am not dead." I saw Zsasz's eyes widen in fear as none other than Doctor Jonathan Crane, the man I had thought to be dead, walked out into the moonlight. "I'd put that knife down if I were you." Zsasz dropped the knife and began to run but he was too slow. Crane caught him quickly and injected him, Zsasz fell to the floor crying out in fear and scrambled off down an alley, we listened to his shrieks of fear grow more distant until they blended into the general noise of the city. He walked over to me and undid my bindings. "You simply can't stay out of trouble can you?"

"I did try not to."

"Not hard enough it would seem." I looked down at the 18 cuts on my arm and sighed.

"I didn't even notice how many it was, how much blood is on my hands."

"It could be worse, compared to the majority of this prison's inhabitants, me included, your record is practically white."

"It was you who left the notes wasn't it?" he shifted seeming a little uncomfortable then.

"Yes, it was foolish, but yes."

"And the chaos back at the museum?"

"Also my work." I nodded trying wrap my head around it all. "You need to get those cuts cleaned, they are bleeding quite a lot and since you have a habit of feinting it would be nice to avoid it for once." He helped me into a nearby building and set to work cleaning my wounds. "As you know I am quite familiar with the human mind and I can't help but notice a few tell tale signs in your behavior. Signs that when combined with your reaction to my toxin have helped me to formulate a hypothesis."

"Signs?"

"Your extreme violence towards men of a certain kind, your protective nature over other females, for example Harley; the way you remained frozen when under the effects of my toxin, almost as if what you were experiencing left you physically unable to move." I knew he had worked it out. He knew my secret, what had happened to me to cause the breakdown that sent me back to Arkham.

"He was called Andrew Leighton. I trusted him, I even thought I loved him; I was wrong of course there is no way I actually did. He bided his time waiting until I was alone in my dormitory, having had my weekend pass taken away, and then made his move. I let him in. I trusted him! When I saw what he was going to do I tried to fight him off but he was too strong, he held me down so I couldn't move. I can still hear his voice whispering to me not to struggle that it would be over soon. "shhh" they won't hear you anyway and he was right because he had planned it so he would be. He left me there alone and broken in the dark. I turned to my so called friends for help and support but they turned on me, said I was lying and called me a slut begging for attention. That was when I broke down and almost killed myself. I was hanging from the ceiling of the lunch room by a noose when I realised that my death would only give Quincy, Andrew and all those bitches what they wanted. so I cut myself down, but not before I had starved myself of enough oxygen to cause myself to feint on the floor of the lunch room. Which is where they found me right alongside the clear evidence of what I had attempted and promptly sent me packing, back to Arkham." I was crying by the end of this, I had never said it out loud before and it brought it all rushing back. I couldn't look at the man standing next to me and let him see the weakness and pain in my eyes.

"You know, what happened to you isn't anything to be ashamed of." he said in a low voice, burning with something I couldn't quite place. "It doesn't make you weak, it makes you strong. You are strong Genevieve you understand that? You are one of the strongest people i've ever come across." he sounded different then and I could understand how he been a psychiatrist. He was no longer the cold detached Scarecrow but was now the quiet, understanding Doctor Jonathan Crane. I looked at him and saw what it was I had heard in his voice reflected in his eyes, anger.

"This is why I have to look after them."

"Look after who?"

"Everyone? Anyone? It changes, but right now it's Harley."

"What about yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"When will you protect yourself, and I mean properly not just taking down those who oppose you but actually stopping the memories from overtaking you."

"I'm past the point of no return now. I only live for two reasons: to look after others and to spite Quincy. That is all I am." his eyes softened then ever so slightly for a second before resuming their usual analytical stare.

"You honestly believe that?"

"What's not to believe?" I laughed bitterly "Besides i've got a full time commitment on it's way what with Harley being pregnant."

"You envy her?"

"Her pregnancy? No. Her optimistic attitude? yes. I wish I could see life like she does for once,but I missed that train a long time ago. Now I look out for her as if she's my own sister because I love her as if she were, that's why I need to stop the clown from dying. Because if he dies he'll take a part of her with him."

"She does seem to have become very dependant on him."

"Because she loves him."

"It makes her vulnerable."

"And happy, don't forget that." we sat in silence then, he had finished cleaning and bandaging my wounds by then, and I found myself wondering whether the gamble Harley took by falling in love was one she should have taken.

"Do you think it's worth it?"

"Love?"

"Yes." apparently he had been thinking the same thing as me.

"I don't know. It's all a chemical disease isn't it? No different to what they have either of us noted down as having. Harley doesn't seem to mind it, and I think Joker loves her back."

"You do?"

"Yeah, in his own twisted way. He asked me to take care of her if he dies, that's what convinced me. He doesn't show weakness but in that moment he did, only for a split second but it was there. I suppose it's one of those diseases that you don't know you have until you're trapped, by which point you don't want to get rid of it and even if you did it's claws have stuck in too deep to come away neatly without tearing a part of you out with them."

"A silent assassin." I looked at him and knew that he understood my meaning, that it was worth it only as long as you never let it get away.


	6. Chapter 6

**The character Riddler mentions in this Chapter is my friend's OC you can read his simultaneous story about Arkham City from his character's POV here: s/9364487/1/Hijack**

* * *

I got up to leave, figuring that I may as well continue on to see Eddie so I could catch up on what was going on but before I left I turned back to face Jonathan. I owed him my life and and I didn't like being in debt to people, it left loose ends.

"Thanks for what you did back there... and on the various other occasions. You ever need anything, just let me know."

"That won't be necessary. Consider it free of charge, contrary to popular belief not everything I do is self serving."

"Just the majority?"

"Well what else would you expect?" I laughed "Goodbye Genevieve" I liked the way he said my name, he played on each syllable and drew it out making it sound elegant. I smiled and turned to leave. "Oh and please do try not to get yourself killed, it would be rather irritating." I rolled my eyes at him and left, a smile still playing on my face and a warm feeling rising up through me as I felt his eyes follow me from the room.

When I arrived at the church it appeared to be empty as I wandered into the center of the room and surveyed the chaos that had consumed this once holy place. I jumped into a fighting stance when my reverie was interrupted by the sound of a person clearing their throat. I turned around and saw the man dressed entirely in green leaning against the door admiring his cane.

"Eddie, so good to see you!"

"So many british accents in one day, I feel privileged."

"Huh?"

"A friend of mine with an accent similar to your's was in here earlier, I do love a classy british accent, they sound ever so intelligent. I should introduce you two, I think you would get on well, or the complete opposite. It could go either way."

"Umm thanks?" he was off on one of his tandems "Do you think you could fill me in?" he proceeded to update me on the Bat's progress, apparently he had taken out Penguin before disappearing somewhere into the underground system. Meanwhile Joker's health had been deteriorating rapidly. Also there had been sightings of Deadshot though Eddie wasn't quite sure who he was here for.

"You really shouldn't let yourself get so out of the loop Genevieve dear, it could be dangerous."

"I'm sorry to disappoint, but i've been a little busy dealing with one of this place's resident psychopaths."

"Yes I saw, I was actually worried that Zsasz was going to kill you for a moment there. Shocking stuff however I was quite curious to hear about your extracurriculars from the past year. Shame about the tally marks he gave you though, i'm afraid they'll probably scar.

"You were just sat here watching?"

"Of course I was, i'm watching everything in this place."

"Thanks for the help." I grumbled, if he actually got his hands dirty for once I wouldn't be in half the scrapes I got into. "A simple warning would have been nice."

"And have deprived you of your little reunion with Jonny Boy? I know what's on that memory card of yours." I jerked in shock at that. That was private not to mention the only copy of its contents.

"How? I've never shown anyone and it's the only surviving copy."

"I got to it before you did my dear. You were rather slow to delete the tapes back at the old asylum."

"What is this ever so secret tape you two are discussing?" In the time since we had moved away from the door whilst arguing Ivy had snuck in and watched our exchange, she seemed rather amused. "And now I hear the Scarecrow isn't dead either, what a day for revelations this is."

"You haven't shown her?"

"Apparently not Eddie. Genevieve, care to enlighten me?" I sighed and took out the memory card from its safe place in my pocket watch.

"Eddie would you do the honours?"

"I would be delighted." He inserted the card into a small opening in his cane and the recording started to play on the large screen at the center of the church. We watched as Batman knocked me unconscious and I fell to the floor in a heap. Almost as soon as the Bat left the room the figure of Jonathan Crane rushed into the room and dropped down next to me to take my pulse. He was obviously handling me extremely gently, to the unsuspecting onlooker it could even have been interpreted as tenderly, even stroking my hair at one point. He lifted me up into his arms and we heard him whisper "The Batman will pay for this." before carrying me from the room.

"Fascinating."

"Isn't it just?" the other two shared a look.

"You're wrong, Its misleading." I said.

"We didn't even say anything." Eddie protested.

"And even if we had it would be well founded. I've never seen him act like that." I walked away from them. If they were going to act like children so be it but I had more pressing things on my mind, such as getting out of this place alive.

"What I find curious is that you kept the recording." he teased.

"We are not discussing this. Not now, not ever."

"I think the lady doth protest too much!" Eddie announced triumphantly. Ivy just smiled at me, her face was almost unreadable and I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"You're being pathetic. Emotions are dangerous Eddie, they hurt me once and i'm _not_ about to let them do it again."

"But look at the evidence..." Eddie was cut of but the loudspeaker Strange used to make announcement bursting into life. We listened intently and a cruel smile grew on my face. Quincy Sharp was in Arkham and fair game.

"What are you going to do?" Ivy asked

"Make him suffer of course." I sprinted from the room, forgetting the memory card in the process. I made it to the entrance in good time as I was getting to know the area better and arrived in time to see Batman himself _demolish_ the petty criminals who had been beating on Quincy before and zoom off to the top of a nearby building. I stealthily climbed the fire escape and when I reached the top watched the interrogation. So Quincy was working for Strange and not the other way around? Now that was interesting. It didn't take long for the pathetic bastard to spill everything he knew and Batman soon left, I bided my time and waited until Quincy had settled a little, until he thought he was safe. Then I emerged from the shadow I had been hiding in. He saw me and started to scramble away from me, I laughed.

"You have no one to go running to now Quincy. This is my town."

"You can't kill me you bitch, they'll lock you up too." I sighed and leaned down over him to whisper in his ear.

_"who said anything about killing you?"_ I then let out a vicious kick to the groin leaving him doubled over and gasping in pain. "That would be too merciful." I said, my voice getting louder. I lifted his head up violently by his hair and punched him hard in the face several times, leaving a trickle of blood falling from his lower lip. "You deserve much worse, and you know what the best bit is?" He shook his head. "You ruined yourself for me. You're going to lose everything and there's nothing you can do about it. So no i'm not going to kill you. I'm going to leave you to suffer in the wreckage of your life, but not before I give you a little something to remember me by when you're locked away, _rotting_ in your cell." I took my knife out of my pocket and pushed his head down onto the floor with my foot. I then knelt down beside him and started to carve. His screams echoed through the the snowy night's air as I used my knife to carve a singular kiss deep into his chest, deep enough that it would leave a large scar. It was small compensation for all that he had stolen from me but it was as good as I would get. Once I was done he was covered in blood and lay on the snow covered floor whimpering. "Oh get a grip Quincy, you won't last long around here like that." I laughed before bringing the heel of my boot down onto his face to knock him unconscious.

When I was on my way back to the steel mill to try and find a way to help keep the clown alive I bumped into Harley who looked distraught.

"Harley, what's wrong?"

"It's Mr-J Curly, he's gettin' worse. I don't think he's gonna make it through the night."

"Don't talk that way Harls..."

"But it's true! I can feel him slipping away, when I was leaving just now he was acting strange, when he said goodbye it was like he suspected it would be for the last time. I can't raise a baby alone, I don't even know what i'm gonna do with myself without him! Everything's been about him for so long I can't remember who I was before." she was crying heavily now.

"No Harley. We're gonna get that cure. But even if this all goes wrong you won't be alone, you'll have me and Ivy. Hell even Selina and Eddie! First thing's first though, we're gonna get that cure and we're gonna save that clown of your's. So where is it?"

"B-Man is takin' it ta the iceman right now."

"Then that's where we're going."

We arrived in the GCPD after passing by a large group of unconscious men, evidence of the Bat being here if ever it was needed. when we entered into the main part of the building we heard what sounded like a pretty intense fight, Freeze could be heard taunting Batman about how he couldn't hide for him and at one point he cried out in pain as Batman presumably attempted to prove him otherwise. Why they were fighting at all alluded me, it was completely pointless and counterproductive.

"How are we gonna get to the safe with those two in there?"I asked Harley who, to my dismay, simply grinned.

"Easy peasy, we just gotta get it out from the other side." She ran down the corridor, flipping over some hot steam being projected across the hallway and into the Morgue, before appearing holding a saw. when she came back over she pointed to where some bolts were just visible in the wall."That's the outline of the safe" and then she started to break in. She made short work of it and soon she had the vial of precious cure in her hands. It looked ordinary to me but Harley hugged it to herself as if it was the key to everlasting happiness, and I guess in a way for her it was.

"How did you know how to do that?!" I asked in astonishment.

"Kitty taught me a few tricks!" I laughed feeling ecstatic at our change of luck, as we made our way out we continued to laugh and joke about the two fighting fool's reactions when they realised they'd been outsmarted. Those two were renowned for being two of the smartest people around here, the scientist and the great detective.

"He's not gonna die Curly, i'm gonna save him and he'll live. Then when the little one comes we'll be a family!" a particularly weird family, but whatever made her happy.

"See good things happen Harley."

"This is more than good, this is the best. Everythings gonna be just fine!" I smiled at the joy and relief radiating off of her and put my arm around her, glad that things were finally working out.


	7. Chapter 7

On our way back to the steel mill we were in good spirits, feeling that things were finally going our way. Harley and I were discussing possible baby names, Harley seemed convinced she was having a boy but I pointed out she couldn't possibly know.

"Ya know whatever it is i'm gonna name it startin' with a J."

"Okay, whatever floats your boat, but what are you gonna do for a surname? Does Joker even have one?"

"I guess we'll have to stick with mine, though it doesn't matter. We're hardly gonna be sending the kid off to the Gotham Academy!"

"Maybe you should, Parent's evening would be entertaining." I grinned, whilst trying to mentally picture Harley and Joker turning up to talk to their kid's teacher. She laughed with me, seeming happier than i'd ever seen her. Unfortunately the happiness wasn't to last.

We were making our way through the steel mill when it happened, so close to Joker's office we could practically hear him bossing some brainless minions around. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement and realised we were being followed, I called out to Harley to warn her but it was too late, they attacked us. Several women, heavily tattooed and brandishing swords leaped at us, if I didn't know any better i'd say they looked like ninjas. We started to fight ferociously but my knife was nothing against their swords and soon I was covered in bleeding gashes. One was about to stab Harley from behind and I threw myself at the attacker whilst screaming at Harley to run. We didn't stand a chance against them and we needed to get the cure to Joker. I managed to kill the one I was straddling with a quick slice to the throat and soon was back in the fray.

"Harley go. Now!" I shouted dodging yet another blade and catching the wrist to twist my attacker's arm backwards until she dropped the sword, which I promptly snatched up and ran through her.

"I'm not leavin' you Curly!" I felt a blade nick my cheek and whirled around to block a blow from the sword's owner.

"You have to get the cure to Joker! I'll be fine. Just RUN!" I screamed at her before savagely beheading my adversary. She looked conflicted but then clearly came to her senses as she realised I was right, she started to sprint for the door and a couple of the ninjas chased after her. I cut them off before they reached her by swinging the sword I was holding with all my strength at their legs. One came clean off and I felt the sword embed itself in the bone of a second leg, bringing the owner, screaming in agony, down onto the second advancer. I then positioned myself with my back to the door and continued to fight them off, there were too many of them and I doubted I could win this but I had to buy Harley as much time as possible. As several advanced on me simultaneously I kicked a nearby wooden crate at them to distract them momentarily before landing a series of brutal sword blows, I never thought I would be so glad I had included sword fighting amongst the skills i'd learnt in the past year. Despite my previous doubts the onslaught seemed to be thinning,and I grinned as I quickly dispatched of the penultimate attacker and whipped my sword up to pause just in front of the final one's throat.

"Who sent you?" I demanded breathlessly.

"I will never talk to scum such as you." she spat.

"Scum? How dare you..." I was about to continue onto a an extremely long rant about manners being especially important when your enemy had a sword against your neck, but I was interrupted by my legs being kicked out from under me by someone standing behind me.

I attempted to roll away but I was too slow and felt a sword pierce my stomach, it was a shallow wound and too far to the side to cause any major injury but that didn't make the pain any less. I screamed at the feeling of cold metal biting into my flesh and tears sprang up, unbidden, in my eyes. I looked into the face standing over me and saw this one was different to the other ninjas, she was clothed entirely in leather, wore her hair down and exuded an air of authority; this was their leader. She caressed my bleeding cheek with her boot, still keeping a hand on the blade planted into my stomach.

"It was very noble of you give your own life in order to help Quinzel get away." she said in a heavily accented voice. "Such a shame that your sacrifice was for nothing" she lifted up her other hand which I saw was holding the dark blue liquid that made up the cure.

My heart dropped and all I could manage was a weak "no". She laughed cruelly.

"Don't worry so much, your friend is alive, just a little tied up right now." as relieved as I was to hear that Harley was okay, I knew she wouldn't be for long unless I could get that cure back. I tried desperately to snatch the cure back from her tauntingly, outstretched hand but she pulled it back out of reach quickly.

"Oh I don't think so." she twisted the blade in my stomach and I screamed, the tears were now pouring down my cheeks,mixing with my blood. "That is mine, as are you. I find it to be useful to keep hostages around as insurance and as you are well liked by many of the criminal scum here, you will be perfect for the job." she pulled the sword out and relief washed over my body like a tidal wave. She signalled to two of the new ninjas who had entered the room whilst I was on the ground and they picked me up by my shredded arms, the woman surveyed the room which was full of the dead and unconscious bodies of the ninjas I had disposed of previously. "You are strong, reckless, but strong. If you joined us we could teach you the self preservation required to make you a truly undefeatable warrior." she addressed me.

"I'll never join you" I spat venomously.

"your mistake." she shrugged and walked away, the two holding me proceeded to drag me after her but she turned to them and held up her hand. "No. I will do this alone, take her to the theatre and wait for my arrival."

The journey to the theatre was long and arduous, I tripped several times, my senses dulled by blood loss. When we reached the theatre they shoved me into a disheveled basement level dressing room. I fell to the floor and landed hard, letting out a hiss pain as I did so. I looked down at my injuries and realised that I wouldn't be good for anything unless I strapped up my stomach. I looked around for something that would act as a bandage, my eyes fell onto a raggedy looking scarf that seemed as if it would do the job. I slowly lifted my dress over my head wincing as did so from my assorted wounds. I then ran the scarf under some water from the sink in the corner and started to wrap it tightly around my stomach. When I was done I used some tissues to make an attempt at cleaning up some of the deeper cuts, but it was to little effect without some proper first aid equipment. I gave up and pulled my dress back over my head, I looked in the mirror and saw that what little covering the dress had given me originally was even less now due to the various holes and tears it had sustained over the course of the night. I then started to look for some way to make my escape, the door was firmly locked and even if I had the equipment to pick it, which I didn't, I suspected it was being guarded by some of those ninjas. I spotted a security camera in the corner and realised I had to find a way to break it if I hoped to get out. I made a big song and dance of trying to knock the door down to no avail, and then in a fake fit of rage started to throw things, one of which just happened to hit the camera, knocking it down. I smiled and waited a while in case they came to check up on me, whilst I waited I continued to look for a way out. There was a small window high up on one of the walls and I pulled a chair up to look out of it, seeing it reached street level I internally celebrated my luck. When I was sure that I was in the clear and they weren't going to check in on me I lifted one of the chairs in the room and smashed it against the window, it was reinforced glass and was going to take a while to smash. After about ten collisions the chair I was using splintered at the force and I realised I would have to find something else, one of the pipes on the wall was coming off and after a few attempts I was able to tear it away. Before I could make it back to the window though I was thrown to the ground as an explosion went off in a nearby building, luckily for me the explosion had cracked the window and weakened it for me. I started to hack away at the glass with the pipe, I could feel the strain the exertion was putting on my damaged body every move was agony but I had to keep going. Finally the pipe went straight through and I started to clear a big enough hole through the shattered glass for me to fit through, I felt another explosion go off and decided it was time to hurry up. It wasn't a perfect hole, there were still several pieces of glass sticking out from the edges at odd angles but it would have to do. I stood on the one remaining chair and pulled myself up and through the hole, wriggling through on front, causing much complaint by the way of sharp pain from my tender stomach. Several pieces of glass snagged on my skin as I pulled myself through and when I stood up I had multiple jagged trails of blood running down my legs and tattered dress.

I breathed in the night sky, glad to be out and free. Except it wasn't quiet in Arkham City anymore, The sky was full of helicopters and fire. Explosions going off in buildings like fireworks. I heard the voices of some Tyger guards heading my way and quickly pulled myself up a fire escape to hide in the darkness, one of the blackgate thugs across the street wasn't so quick and they shot him on sight. One of them reported the kill over a radio and I heard the voice of Hugo Strange replying and telling him to continue on towards the checkpoint. I didn't know what the checkpoint was until I heard one of them say to another "Hopefully the missiles will have taken the plant lady out but just in case, these flame throwers should do the business." They were going for Ivy, I had to warn her but I would never get there in time at ground level. I made my decision quickly and started to scale the fire escape, reaching the roof in no time at all, I got my bearings and located the nearest building within jumping distance going in the right direction. Luckily for me all the buildings in this part of the city were very close together, making it easy to navigate by jumping from roof to roof. It felt like I was flying, but I didn't have time to enjoy it, I had to warn Ivy.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry I haven't updated in a few days, it's been kinda hectic with finishing school and stuff, but i'm back now! I do plan on continuing on past this chapter which is why it doesn't wrap up any storylines. - Katy **

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I built up a rhythm as I jumped across the rooftops,every so often my heart would skip a beat as I stumbled on the edge of the roof but I could jump quite far and was confident in my ability. I laughed at the free feeling of flying through the air, when I was interrupted by a spotlight focussing in on me. Before I could recover and keep moving machine gun fire blasted towards me, splintering the concrete at my feet. I jumped and picked up the pace, I was now sprinting flat out, but the gunfire followed me, leaving a puckered trail of indentations in their wake. I could feel bullets woosh past my ear and I knew that all it would take was the impact of one to bring me down and allow them to finish me off. Up ahead I could see a particularly big gap coming up. I wasn't sure if I could make it but I figured if I stopped to find another way i'd be dead anyway. As the jump came up I launched myself from the ledge and swung my arms and legs forward to build my momentum I slammed into the edge of the building hard and managed to hold onto the ledge to avoid falling. The impact of my feet had smashed through the window beneath and I swung through it quickly to avoid the oncoming storm of bullets. I rolled onto bare wooden floorboards and sprang up to run from the room as the helicopter leveled itself with the window, as I threw myself into the hallway the door frame I had just passed through exploded, showering me with debris and knocking me to the ground. As I dragged myself along the floor, away from the copter's line of sight I saw bullet holes puncture the wall above my head. I opened a door leading to an under-stairs closet and pulled myself in, it was full of bedding and after pulling the door closed I covered myself in the bedding in order to hide myself. I couldn't outrun the guards so I would simply have to wait them out and hope I wouldn't be too late to warn Ivy. After a while the shooting stopped and I heard footsteps come my way.

"No sign of target in the hall."

"I'll check in here" The door opened and light shone in, I held my breath and hoped that I had covered myself well enough. Just when I was sure he had seen me and I was going to feel myself being shot full of bullets, I heard him close the door again leaving me in the dark.

"Clear." this was echoed by many other voices from various places like some weird echo. "Target must have escaped via ground floor exit, resume patrol." I stayed where I was until I was sure they were gone before cautiously crawling out into the bombsite of a corridor, heaving a deep sigh of relief.

I ran up to the roof and continued on towards Ivy,only stopping my journey when I neared her place. I needed to get across the water and since I didn't have Selina here to help me this time I would have to work it out for myself.I looked around for inspiration and my eyes fell onto the half-working lights of a sport shop. I broke in and using some climbing rope and a ice skating boot fashioned a sort of DIY grappling hook. I went back out and threw the heavy end towards the metal structure on the other side of the water, it took several attempts, my frustration increasing with each one, but finally I got the boot to swing around the bar. I gave it a tug to check it and took a deep breath before jumping I swung across I skirted dangerously close tothe dark water below me, however I got to the steel support on the other side and quickly scaled it. Noting that her guards were still here I smiled to myself, I had made it in time. I walked in and saw here waiting for me.

"Genevieve, what can I do for you? You seem troubled." no point beating around the bush.

"Tyger guards are on their way here to kill you." she laughed.

"Let them try. I'm touched at your concern Genevieve but I think I can handle a few meatsack goons."

"They have flamethrowers" she nodded thoughtfully.

"I will alert my guards and increase my defenses. You look exhausted by the way."It was my turn to laugh.

"It's been pretty non-stop since I last saw you, I got kidnapped by some ninja bitch!" she raised her eyebrows.

"Ninja you say?"

"Yeah, ring any bells?"

"Well either you're raving mad or you had the misfortune of meeting Talia Al Ghul."

"Well whoever she was, she was perfectly charming when she stuck her sword in me and locked me in a dressing room."

"She does have a reputation for being difficult to get along with."

"Yeah and that's not the worst bit."

"Oh?"

"she took the cure from Harley." I saw realisation dawn and sink in on Ivy's face.

"Where is Harley?"

"When she took me I think she left her tied up in the steel mill."

"Then we must go to her."

"What about the guards heading here?"

"Even if they can get past my guard,which they won't, they can't kill me if i'm not here."

Getting around was much easier with Ivy and we got to the steel mill quickly. We found the room eye had been taken from and ran into the next room where we saw Ivy tied up and gagged, she looked both terrified and pissed off.I took her gag off as Ivy worked on her binds.

"I can't tell ya how happy I am ta see you two, an' Curly I was so worried when that bitch went in there for you! She didn't hurt you did she?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle." I smiled at her reassuringly.

"B-man came through here a while ago but he left me here! Can ya believe it?" Ivy finished wit her binds and Harley stretched, letting out a sigh of relief as she did so. "We need ta get the cure back." I exchanged a grim look with Ivy before leading the way out.

"Last I heard they were heading for the theatre; so that's where we'll go." We hadn't been walking for long when we saw the top of wonder tower explode. It seemed to shake the ground and entire city, I heard Harley gasp from behind me.

"Looks like Strange got what he deserved." This was quickly followed by one of the large screens bursting into life with Joker's face tormenting Batman and showing him that he had Talia held hostage.

"Seems you were right about the theatre Genevieve." Ivy remarked.

"Harley...he looks healthy?" I was confused, he looked better than ever and not at all ill, maybe he had gotten to the cure.

"That's not really him."

"What?" Ivy and I asked incredulously. Harley smiled sadly.

"It's Clayface, pretending to be him. It's all part of Mr-J's big plan." It was actually pretty clever and could well fool Batman, which was presumably what he had in mind.

We were almost there when Twoface launched his attack on us. We rounded a corner to see him standing there with about twenty men standing behind him.

"I'm fed up of bitches like you three and the Cat running around unchecked, you need to learn some respect. So what's it gonna be? Heads my men kill you here and now, tails they drag you back to the court for trial."

"Harvey don't be an idiot. We can take anything you throw at us and it would really be better for you to just let us by." Ivy said, irritation filling her voice with contempt, but he ignored her and continued to flip the coin. He looked at it and smiled at us.

"Sorry ladies, boys make sure they suffer." he then walked through the crowd of his men and disappeared into the darkness. We had no problem dispatching of the men, three would charge at me or Harley and we would take out two of them whilst Ivy crushed the third in a stranglehold of vines before he could reach us. One managed to sneak up on Harley and put a knife to her throat at one point which I responded to by throwing my own knife into his eye, he dropped her screaming in pain and she shot him several times with her hand gun. Soon they were all unconscious, dead or dying on the floor.

There was not time for messing around so I didn't carve them, instead we ran. Except we were too late. When we arrived Joker's goons were chanting his name outside of the theatre. We pushed through the crowds and reached the front just as the door opened, Batman appeared and in his arms was Joker, clearly lifeless. Harley gasped as her eyes fell on his body, but before anyone could do anything Batman was gone, heading off towards the gate. Harley fell to the floor sobs shaking her body.

"No, no, no, no, no, no..." she whispered over and over again, as if repeating it enough times would change things. Me and ivy knelt down and put out arms around her, as she cried. All around us people were reacting people were reacting their own ways, most of them were Joker's men and so were also mourning however one of them was Twoface's and he had the nerve to cheer. Several thugs leaped at him but I stood up and stopped them, walking towards the man myself.

"You shouldn't have done that." I told him, my voice low with anger.

"Like i'm scared of you Arkham, I don't care how many people you've killed. You're just a rich little heiress." I laughed at that, I heard myself do it and was internally shocked at how maniacal I sounded, I stopped abruptly to put him on edge and smiled at him.

"You forgot one thing. I'm a rich little heiress; with a knife." I then plunged my knife into his stomach and grabbed his throat, I brought my knee up to his groin whilst simultaneously twisting the knife in his stomach. He screamed in pain. "You don't come here and laugh. You don't laugh. Filth like you aren't worthy and now you _dare_ to show disrespect at a time like this." I paused my twisting for a second and looked him in the eye. "Big mistake." I then pulled the knife upwards sharply, opening his stomach like a pathologist doing a post mortem, his screams then seemed inhuman. Almost as inhuman as I felt. I looked at the men surrounding us.

"I've heard some of the things you've said tonight, about my dear friend Harley here. You serve her now. If not out of respect for her then in the Joker's memory." nodding and grunts of agreement chorused from around me. I then went back over to Harley who Ivy was helping to stand. I put my hand on her shoulder. "You remember what I said earlier?" she nodded.

"No one's safe."

"No one."


	9. Chapter 9

Ivy and I quickly decided that we needed to get out of there until the heat died down, soon cops would be crawling all over the place and right now we needed to work out what we were going to do next.

"Do you think you'll be able to get her to my apartment without being seen?" I asked Ivy in a hushed tone.

"Yes, it should be perfectly manageable."

"Okay you set off now and wait there for me, I don't know how long i'll take convincing those idiots on the gate that i'm a political prisoner." she nodded at me and gave me a quick hug before hurrying away, Harley tucked protectively under her arm. I turned to the remaining goons to address them. "We're going to lie low for a short while to work out our next plan, I advise you do the same whilst you wait for our signal."

"How will we know it's you?" one of the braver ones asked.

"Believe me, you'll know when you see it."

As I got into sight of the gate I let my injuries take over my actions, finally allowing the pain and exhaustion I had been withholding to take charge. I staggered up to the officers, my breath ragged and tears streaming down my face, as soon as they recognised me the ran to my aid. I collapsed into the arms of one of them and he picked me up, letting me rest my legs.

"I was so scared...Quincy... said he was going to kill me...it hurts so bad..." I gushed between sobs and gasps for breath. It seemed slightly melodramatic to me but they were drinking it up, it appeared the frightened little girl I kept locked up inside of me was useful for something after all. They took me over to a medical crew who started working on my wounds immediately, buzzing around me like flies. I was feeling dazed from a mixture of blood loss and the flashes of the press' cameras behind the police tape. I felt a blanket being put around my shoulders and out of the corner of my eye spotted him. Batman was discussing something with Commissioner Gordon, the sight of his black cloaked silhouette made my blood boil; it was his fault. If it hadn't been for him Joker would still be alive, he had let him die as if it was nothing and now I was stuck cleaning up his mess. He was directly responsible for the pain Harley was now feeling, and for that I would make him pay. Dark thoughts of revenge were still crossing my mind when a police officer came and asked me for a statement I told him that Quincy had kidnapped me with the help of his nephew and dumped me into Arkham City claiming that it was revenge for trying to take back the Asylum, I told them that I had spent the entire time wandering the streets and attempting to find shelter; I was an innocent victim. When they finished with my wounds they asked me what I would like to do and I told them that I just wanted to go home and sleep, something which they were very understanding about since i'd had a traumatic experience and even gave me a lift back to my place.

I walked up to my door having thanked the officers extremely graciously and entered my apartment.

"Ivy?" I called softly once I had closed the door, she walked into the light and gave me a grim look. "How is she?"

"Bad. She's currently sleeping on your bed."

"Good, she could do with some rest." I said slumping onto my sofa "I'm gonna make the Bat pay for this. I'll destroy him."

"Not such an easy task, but i'll do whatever I can to help you." She sat next to me "Have you any ideas what this destruction will consist of?"

"I want him to feel this, underneath the mask."

"You mean..."

"I'm going to find out who the Batman really is and then I will burn him from the inside out."

Next morning I made Harley breakfast, when I took it in for her she looked terrible. I sat down beside her and pulled her into my arms, she was cold and felt so small.

"I've got a plan Curly." She whispered shakily.

"You do?" she then went on to detail me her plan, it was head on and although it wasn't a bad idea it would never work, we both knew it. This was a plan to provide short term relief for her, make the Bat think she'd taken her revenge whilst planning a much bigger thing behind the scenes, I would never be able to persuade her not to do this and while I couldn't directly take part or risk losing the asylum, I could help her create a backup plan.

"You need to plan for the baby."

"What do ya mean?"

"If they think you're pregnant they'll never let you and the baby be together."

"You're right!" she gasped "I can't let them take my baby away!"

"We won't. You need to make them think that you're not pregnant anymore."

"Even if we managed that don't ya think they might notice when I start ta get huge?

"You forget, i'm in charge of Arkham now. I can cover up your pregnancy so no one will know."

"How are we gonna do it then?"

"I'll take a pregnancy test so that it comes up negative and then we can plant it where Batman will see it, he'll think you miscarried, I'll look after you in Arkham."

"What about when the baby comes? An asylum ain't no place for a kid."

"I take the baby in as my ward, i'll say it's one of my English friend's, and then i'll look after the baby for you so you can see her whenever you want but she still gets a relatively normal life!"

"You would really do all that for me?"

"Of course I would silly, you're my friend."

I explained the plan to Ivy, who seemed to agree that it would work.

"And what about your own plan for the Bat?"

"I don't have the capabilities to do this myself, I need to hire someone who does."

"I recommend you talk to Eddie, he knows everyone."

"I'll do that, i'm moving back into the mansion soon since they've finished fixing it up once i'm there it'll be easy to contact any of the inmates."

"Arkham will be a much better place now you're in charge." I smiled at her, it meant so much to me that she was behind me on this. "I'm guessing you'll be waiting until after Harley's plan has gone ahead to act on your own?"

"Yeah, I need to get all of the preparations for that sorted first. I need to make sure that everyone working at the asylum is loyal to me not Quincy or Strange and then only let the ones who won't accidently tell know of Harley's condition."

"It shouldn't be too hard, most of the Doctors there adore you and will rat on those loyal to others with no prompting."

"I hope so."

That evening Ivy left to work on building her own hide out, although she had an open invitation to visit me and Harley whenever she liked. Harley herself was getting stronger, she was fixated on planning her revenge on Batman and I was lending her a hand with the preparations, getting her equipment and the like. One evening I found her passed out in a pile of blue prints so I put a blanket over her and a pillow under her head. I walked out into the living room and could sense instantly that I wasn't alone. I pulled one of my new custom made knives out of my belt and had it at the ready.

"Who's there?" no reply "I won't hesitate to kill you" I walked into the kitchen and sensed a movement from behind the door, in one fluid movement I pinned the figure to the floor with my knife at their throat. It was only then that I saw who it was. Jonathan Crane. He wasn't wearing the mask which was why I hadn't recognised him straight away and instead of his Scarecrow get up he was wearing a suit."What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is this how you normally greet visitors? I don't know how they do it back in England but this feels a little too close and personal to be normal." he smirked,I got up off of him and allowed him to stand up.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Correct, well observed you're improving." I rolled my eyes and poured myself a shot of whiskey, if I was gonna be dealing with him at this sort of time I needed a drink. "I came to see how Harley was doing." It was clearly a lie but I couldn't be bothered to argue.

"She's as good as could be expected, plotting her vengeance and all that." he nodded and looked thoughtful.

"So you're covering up her pregnancy?"

"Yes..." I wasn't sure I wanted to know where he was going with this.

"You know that you don't have to look after every female in the world, apart from yourself that is."

"Well clearly I don't look after every female in the world, since I failed at protecting Harley from this." I spat, my guilt bubbling over the edge. I was annoyed at Jonathan too, he always brought these things I kept hidden out of me.

"There was nothing you could have done."

"There is_ always_ something I could have done. I could have found a way to keep my parents at home, I could have gone through with killing myself, I could have tried harder to stop him, I could have ran from the asylum instead of staying, I could of not answered that phone, I could have done a better job of avoiding Cobblepot, I could have checked to door and stopped Talia, I could have gotten the cure... I could've saved you back in the asylum that night." I was crying from my frustration at myself, I didn't even mean to say that last one out loud they just kept pouring out of my mouth. Silence came after that, it roared in my ears and I could hear my heart beating.

"It wasn't your fault,none of it. As for what happened with Croc, that was entirely my own foolishness."

"You wouldn't even have been in there if it weren't for me. Why did you do it?" he paused before answering, seeming to be trying to pick his words carefully.

"I did it because..."another pause "to quote someone very special, it was what people do for those they care about." I heard my own words from a year ago echo through my head in his voice, I had been justifying taking up the suicide mission of going into Croc's lair to help Ivy to him. "So don't blame yourself, the chemical defect was entirely on my side."

"Was?" I don't know how but I managed to choke out the question, I needed to know. He looked thoughtful for a few seconds before looking me dead on in the eye.

"Still is." at some point in this exchange I had put my knife back in my belt and now I moved that hand up to cup his face, I looked into ice blue eyes.

"Well you seems perfectly healthy to me."

"That's because it's the silent assassin."

"Such shame you seem to have passed the disease on to me then." He closed the space between us and for that moment, I no longer cared about anything.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning I woke after having one of the most satisfying night's sleep i'd had in months, no nightmares at all. I'd made it clear to Jonathan that he should try and leave as surreptitiously as possible to try and avoid Harley finding out he had been here, his response to which had been a pointed look and a reminder that I hadn't noticed him arriving. The only evidence that he'd been here at all was a note on my bedside table.

_No more guilt._

I hid the note inside my pocket watch with the others and walked out into the living room to see Harley sitting there surrounded by a sea of materials and a sewing machine.

"New costume Harls?"

"You bet! How was Jonny Boy? I didn't get the chance to say hi."she grinned at me shamelessly then.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I went to start making coffee and she followed me into the kitchen.

"Don't be silly Curly, I heard the two of ya talkin' last night... not just talkin' either." this was followed by a fit of giggles.

"Harley!" I gasped and threw my spoon at her which she ducked neatly.

"Don't ya worry Curly, you're secret's safe with me. I don't mind either, it's nice seein' ya so happy for once!"

"You promise you're not mad?" I stuck my little finger out to her for a pinkie swear, something which we had started to do a lot recently, maybe because it seemed to help keep us both grounded somewhat.

"I promise."

Over the next few days I became very busy overseeing my move back into Arkham mansion, I wanted to be all set up and ready for when Harley put her scheme into action. After the last of my stuff had been moved from the apartment I stood in the emptiness of my living room with Harley, she was leaving to start work on her plan that evening.

"How exactly did ya plan on gettin' the boys back?" I handed her a box.

"In this is a very large green and purple firework, go on top of a tall building near the steel mill or even above the gate to it and fire it. Any goon with a handful of brain cells should be able to figure out what it means.

"Ohhh nice idea! Puddin' woulda loved that." She looked sad again as she said that, I put my arm around her.

"He would be proud to see you causing trouble for Bats too, remember that." she put her head on my shoulder.

"Thanks Curls, you've been ace."

"It's nothing. Now for your second present." I got a pregnancy test box out of my pocket "I took this earlier and I can promise you it's negative; no one will know you're pregnant!" she squealed and hugged me so tightly I struggled to breath.

"Go show that bully, who's who." I winked at her as she skipped from the door, and hoped she would be okay.

I stepped out from my car in front of Arkham Mansion with my suitcase and memories of when I had done this last came rushing back. I had been angry and nervous, I had felt like I was stepping into a trap living with Quincy, and I had. However I also had been stepping towards today, this was my asylum now, no one could take it from me. My heads of staff were waiting for me, head of security, lead psychiatrist and head physician. They were all handpicked by myself to be completely loyal, they would keep any secret I needed them to. They filled me in on all the last minute details before going back about their business and I opened the door to the mansion. It was lighter than I remembered it, although that could have been down to the improved electrics installed with the renovation. I had decided to take the bedroom that was adjoined with my new office, to save time and effort walking around the large building. I ran my hands up the banister of the staircase, remembering what this place had been like when my parents were still alive, I had fallen down these stairs once and broken my ankle, my Dad had carried me over to the medical facility for them to sort me out. After that he had made a big show about telling me to use the banister when walking down the stairs, it was like a pet cat or dog he said, it needs lots of attention so you have to stroke it whenever you go down the stairs. It was silly of course, but I was five and took it very seriously. I walked into my office and looked around, they had done a good job repairing it, there was no sign of the explosion that killed Dr Young; or the blood stain from the two men I killed early on that night. Technically I had killed Dr Young too but I internally decided I shared that one with the clown. I sat at my desk and surveyed the security cameras, there was one person in particular I was looking for, a smile pulled its way across my face as my eyes fell on him, Edward Nygma. I made a mental note to pay his cell in the intensive treatment building a visit, I still needed someone to track down Batman's identity for me and Ivy had recommended asking Eddie.

That day I attended a couple of meetings and filled in some paperwork, mostly about the changes to the computer system, but all the while I was worrying about Harley. It wasn't until the next day that I got my update on her in the form of her being dropped in by Commissioner Gordon. I went down to receive them as she was brought in.

"Thank you Commissioner, lovely to see you." I shook his hand, I had nothing against Gordon, he seemed a perfectly pleasant man who only did his job and did it justly at that.

"No worries Miss Arkham, how're you finding things at the top then?"

"More stressful but that's to be expected!" we had a polite laugh together and I walked up to Harley who was strapped to one of those metal boards, Quincy had strapped me to that time. "Harleen Quinzel, otherwise known as Harley Quinn." I spoke out loud from my check list, it was important it seem as if I had never actually encountered her before.

"That's me!" I gave her a smile.

"Well i'm Genevieve Arkham and this is my asylum. I hope you find your time here helpful Harley." she gave me a grin so large it looked painful before I stepped back to allow my chief of medical to check her over.

"I see you're going for a more friendly approach than Sharp did." Gordon said.

"If you treat your patients as second rate citizens then they will likely refuse to get better out of spite. Quincy could never see that and treated them appallingly; he killed a couple of patients here you know?"

"I had heard. Well i'm glad you care about the job at hand and it's refreshing to have someone without a superiority complex in charge." I laughed, it was useful to have Gordon on my side.

"Would you like to come up for a cup of tea of coffee?" I offered.

"Thanks but I should be getting back, anything could be happening in this city!"

I accompanied Harley to her cell and when we were left alone I sat next to her.

"How was it?"

"You were right, I didn't stand a chance. He woulda found the test by now though."

"Good. That mean you and the baby are safe. I'll have one of the doctors keep an eye on your pregnancy, I knew her as a child and she understands the situation; she won't tell. You'll have to stay in this temporary cell tonight but i'll arrange to have you moved to a more comfortable one in the morning, we can't have a pregnant lady sleeping on a bed like this now can we?"

"You're amazin' Curls, a godsend." we laughed and hugged before I left her to sleep.

I made arrangements for something else that night too; Quincy's nephew Andrew had gone on the run after the events of Arkham City, and the police had yet to catch him. I was bored waiting and didn't agree with their justice anyway. I had called Selina up a few days ago and asked her try and hunt him down for me, for a small fee of course. When I got back to my office I had a voicemail from her saying she had him and asking what I would like her to do with him. I called her back.

"Genevieve, long time no see!"

"Nice to hear from you Selina . So you have him?"

"Caught like a rat in a trap."

"There is a small shack down at the Arkham Island dock, if you could meet me there asap that would be great."

"See you soon then Miss Genevieve." I put on a coat and headed down to the dock, I wasn't waiting there long before she appeared behind me, holding Andrew, with a bag over his head.

"Thanks Selina, you've been wonderful."I said as she shoved him into the shack and took the bag and gag off his head.

"Anything for a friend."

"Friend?! Seems you lowlife skanks keep each other company." Andrew spat indignantly. I slapped him hard across the face.

"Now, now Andrew. No need to be rude to dear Selina here, besides insults would be very ill advised right now." that shut him up for the moment.

"I best be heading off then."Selina said "Hopefully i'll see you soon!"

"Bye, and thanks again!" I turned and saw she was already gone. "Looks like it's just the two of us then." I smiled at Andrew.

"You think you're so tough..." I punched him hard in the stomach.

"Think? I know i'm tough Andrew. You know how?" he shook his head. I lifted up my sleeve to reveal the marks Zsasz had given me. "These were given to me by a man called Victor Zsasz, do you know what they signify?" he shook his head again, I sighed. "So you're stupid as well as a rat. They each signify one person i've killed, and let me tell you they are at least eight people out of date." He looked pale then. "So if you think I won't kill you you're wrong, because I will, that's a certainty, he real question is, will it be fast or slow?"

"Please..."

"Please what? Have mercy? You wouldn't have done if your uncle hadn't stopped you. I should _castrate_ you for what you tried to do." He flinched away and I laughed harshly."I won't, don't you worry." I pulled a chair up in front of him and started to play with the knife in my hands. "It's gonna be slow though." I plunged my knife into his stomach causing him to scream in pain. "That will have punctured one of your lungs, it will give you a slow and painful death." I undid his shirt and started to carve a word into his chest. When I was done I set about carving my three kisses into his forehead. "When you've died some of my people will plant you somewhere in Gotham to be found, and everyone will know you for what you are." I'd labeled him now. I took a step back and looked at him, his torso read:

**_Rapist._**

His fatal stab wound made up the full stop. I put the knife back in my pocket and headed back to the mansion without a look back in his direction, he was as good as dead now.


End file.
